Rising Star Alex Luria by Owen Keehnen

Twenty five year old Alex Luria is brand spanking new to the horror world – but the young Las Vegas born actor won’t remain unknown to horror fans for long. First off he has made Fred Rosenberg’s upcoming ‘Slaughter Party’ (2005) with a cast that included Felissa Rose, Lloyd Kaufman, Heidi Martinuzzi, Ron Jeremy and Brinke Stevens. He followed that up with a VERY memorable death scene (see below) in the recently completed Brad Paulson flick ‘Evil Ever After’ (2006) which has another (and somewhat redundant) “cast to suffer & die for” – Felissa Rose, Brinke Stevens, Lloyd Kaufman, Heidi Martinuzzi, and of course Ron Jeremy. With both those productions awaiting release it seems even more fitting that this gorgeous guy got my attention.


 

 

 

 

Alex, first off let's start with a www.racksandrazors.com visual and why don't you describe the room where you are answering these questions?

Brown carpet, overloaded bookcase, about 11 x 11 feet. Fetus in a jar of formaldehyde next to my computer. Walk-in closet. Not too interesting, just a typical home office.

So first off I want to hear about your role as Adam in your first movie Fred Rosenberg's 'Slaughter Party' (2005).  How did that opportunity come about?

I used to study at a studio where we had an instructor from the same hometown as the filmmaker. He had helped him on a project before and was looking for other actors to work on the next. 

What was your overriding memory of that experience?

The film where the crazy killer (Ford Austin) cuts me open lengthwise. I was lying face up on the ground as the sun was going down in December, so it must have been about 49 degrees with wind chill. Then I had a variety of animal parts and fake blood – all quite moist – displayed on my stomach while the scene was shot. It was painfully cold and seemed to last about 1 hour or so. Either that or when Ron Jeremy smashes my head against Gerard Marzilli’s Three Stooges style.

Were you a bit intimidated - you work with some big horror names in that movie -- Brinke Stevens, Felissa Rose, Lloyd Kaufman, Ron Jeremy, etc?

Just a little bit. The shoot went by quickly and there wasn’t much time to feel intimidated. It was definitely interesting to meet Ron Jeremy, though.

I gotta hear about that then. What was interesting about meeting him?

Ron Jeremy was pretty down to earth. He's funny, witty and actually a tiny bit of a joker. I was really surprised because I was expecting a totally different personality.

As someone just sort of fresh into the movie business what has been the best advice any of your fellow performers have ever given you about life in front of the camera?

A good friend and successful working actor who also happens to be an instructor was talking to me very recently. I’m doing a show right now and the workload is horrendous and I mentioned that I have been feeling burned out an uninspired as of late. He said I better fix my attitude and quick because if one can’t feel inspired, then one must leave the industry immediately. He said the entire industry is a fabrication, a commercial, a buzzword, and a 15-minute celebrity. The overnight successes took 20 years to happen, the most important movies will probably never get made and even the palm trees out here come from somewhere else. The only reward that we can count on receiving is the work itself, because nobody else may ever take notice. A little bit grim, but sobering.

You also recently wrapped principle photography of 'Evil Ever After' from Brad Paulson with a lot of the same performers (Brinke, Felissa, Lloyd, Ron, Rebekah Brandes). Tell me a little bit about the movie and your role?

I play an amoral stoner who gets strangled with somebody else’s intestines by a katana-wielding transvestite wearing a pink feather boa. I honestly think that whole bit has been done to death by Hollywood.

This past year you were a busy boy.  You also starred (as Eddie) and produced 'Three Paces to the Closet Door' (2005).  Tell me a little bit about that project?

It’s a 7 and a half-minute short film. I had told so many people that I was going to make my own movie, so I figured it was time to follow through. I’ve definitely learned to make less expensive proclamations in the future. A quote from Nietzsche is displayed over the opening. “There is an old illusion. It is called Good and Evil”. It explores that idea briefly. It was well received at the Santa Clarita Film Festival, so that made me happy.

What's the toughest part about being a producer?

Producing and acting at the same time. It was prohibitively difficult to work a scene while worrying about the dollars and ordering lunch. We had an added difficulty also. We had an actor in his 50’s who has RSD, it’s a degeneration of the nervous system somewhat similar to Lou Gering’s disease. He said that his in extreme pain 24/7, that feels like he’s being eaten alive by millions of small piranhas. I think it’s similar to the disease the guy had in Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher because his senses are so elevated that a friendly smack on the shoulder feels like getting hit with a 2x4. So when we were shooting, he was having a harder time than usual and I was sweating bullets because we had shot half of the project and where never going to be able to use our location again if he couldn’t pull himself together and finish. In the end it worked out, but those were 3 nerve-wracking days.

I also want to hear a little something about the movie you are currently filming 'The Adventures of Buster Smith'.

It’s about a pseudo-futuristic LA where Buster Smith is a hero fighting some corrupt future government.

Shawn, do you have anything else you would like to plug, promote, or inform the www.racksandrazors.com readers about?

My website: www.AlexLuria.com. I’ll be sure to keep it updated with whatever I’m up to at the moment.

So as someone new to the movie business do you have any goals for the medium  & about what you would like to achieve with your film work?

I’d definitely like to see the film medium buck convention a little bit more. It’s more of an industry imposed thing, but movies these days tend to be too formulaic and I find that I really enjoy movies that explore character a little more, even if it doesn’t directly further the plot of the film itself. Of the movies I saw in 2005, Munich and a History of Violence tend to come to my head as films that did that.

Time for some fun.  We are pulling the car into the Alex Luria Drive In --- What three horror flicks are going to be playing on the triple bill and what goodies are they going to be serving up at the concession stand?

They are going to play Pet Cemetery, Child’s Play and The Gate. Those are the three films that scared me the most growing up. After watching those when I was about 5 or 6 I had trouble sleeping for weeks. They are serving New York style pizza – you know with the sweet sauce and crispy basil leaves. I just got back from a trip to NYC and that’s my latest craze. Too bad it’s hard to get good pizza in LA.

What turns you into a psycho in real life?

Not much. I’m pretty laid back. Flaky Hollywood types, high maintenance and/or passive-aggressive people tend to make life more complicated than it needs to be.

What scares you in real life?

Crazy women.